

} 
. 
been asked to cover the cost of chemicals and labor used in the disinfection 
= 
% 
Tt te ee ae a See ee LE rR OTR TE 5 SE OT 
taken to secure some action on the part of railroad iti 
; ! authorities that would 
to the cleaning of all such cars at point of unloading, ee 
+4 ous 7 = 
The attention of the Board has been drawn to a new and perhaps serious source 
of risk of entry of undesirable plants and plant products in earth ballast being 
' dumped along the shores of the Hudson River and other localities from vessels 
entering New York, An inquiry has been started to determine the extent of this 
risk, That it is considerable is evident from the fact that some study has al- 
ready been made by Dr. Arthur Hollick, Director of the luseum of the Staten 
Island Association of Arts and Sciences, on foreign plants introduced through 
this means « There is a possibility of the introduction through this means of soil- 
infecting disease or of injurious nematodes as well as hibernating insects. 
A hearing on the potato wart based on its occurrence in three counties in 
eastern Pennsylvania was conducted at the Department on January 28, A notice of 
hearing for February 24 has also been issued with respect to the common barberry 
on account of the black stem rust of wheat, Another hearing is contemplated for 
the eSth of February on account of foreign wheat diseases, Additional territory 
found infested with the European corn borer and a considerable number of addi- 
tional food plants which have been found subject to attack by this insect will 
“necessitate an early hearing on an extension of this quarantine, 
g The liexican border fumigation houses which have been referred to in an ear- 
lier number of this Tionthly Letter are now substantially completed and will soon 
be placed in active operation, A supplemental appropriation of $100,000 has 
with hydrocyanic acid gas, These fumigation houses, some of which will take 15 
| 
3 has been in charge: of the Bureau's interests, aided by a laboratory 
railway freight cars at one time, probably represent the largest fumigation 
operations ever undertaken, They are established at five different entry points 
between El Paso and Brownsville, 
Reet end 
TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUIT INSECT INVESTIGATIONS, 
C. L. Marlatt, Entomologist in Charge. 
No reports have been made for this section since August, 
H. A. iforrison has returned from a successful season of tropical insect sure 
vey work and is now writing up his notes and caring for the material collected, 
W.N, Mann, who spent considerable time in Cuba, has also returned and is now 
working up his ant and other collections at the National Museum and at Boston in 
cooperation with lir. Wheeler, 
HiF, Dietz, who has spent some months studying the insect problems of the 
Canal Zone, has been in Washington for a month's vacation, The field is a very 
important one and the necessity of keeping in constant touch with it on account 
of the possibility of new insects getting foothold at this crossroads of the 
world and from there reaching the United States is very great. Ilr. Dietz is 
returning to the Canal Zone ina few days to resume his work, In the meantime 
Mr, James Zetek, the Entomologist of the Canal Zone, with whom ‘ir, Dietz has been 
assistant employed by the Bureau, Mr. Ignacio Molino, ex 
A,C, If@son, formerly an ent omological inspector assigned to the Texas-lNexico 
border, more recently in the service of the Army, has been reappointed in the 
n spending a few weeks in Washington getting 
Bureau of Entomology. He has bee . 
the Federal Horticultural Board and he is 
inspection experience in the work of pe ; 
now leaving for Iliami, Fla,, to cooperate with G:F, Moznstte at the .entemiological 
Pesearch station established at. that point in connection with the Miami 
Introduction Gardens of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 
